TURKISH AESTHETIC SURGEONS’ WEBSITES AS ONLINE INFORMATION SOURCES FOR MEDICAL TOURISM

Abstract

Abstract: In recent years, the increasing importance of medical tourism in Turkey cannot be ignored. Existence of websites that fulfil various quality criteria concerning its features is important for providing the right information to people looking for aesthetic interventions and aesthetic surgeons. The aim of this study is to reveal the current situation of Turkish aesthetic surgeon’s websites in terms of both HONcode (Health on the Net Code of Conduct) and TSPRAS’ principles (Turkish Society of Plastic-Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons’ Ethical Rules for Websites). In this study, Turkish aesthetic surgeons’ websites were evaluated and scored according to the HONcode and selected TSPRAS’ principles concerning eleven basic features of the website. There were 749 surgeons who were members of the TSPRAS. Of these, 341 (45.7%) had their own accessible, professional websites. 190 websites confirm to at least all of the 5 selected TSPRAS’ principles. Various studies have been conducted for the purpose of examining websites and their role in medical tourism. Based on those, it can be considered that increasing the number and quality of TSPRAS’ registered surgeons’ websites will give a fresh momentum to aesthetic health tourism. This will be beneficial in terms of patient safety and national economy, and will increase the competition with other countries to achieve higher levels of quality in medical tourism.

Keywords

• aesthetics
• internet
• medical tourism
• online health information
• turkey

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